Chelsea vs Manchester United: Jose Mourinho laments FFP rules make transfers easier for Red Devils

Jose Mourinho believes that it is much easier to manage Manchester United than Chelsea given their massive transfer budget and autonomy with buying any player they want to.

Louis van Gaal turned United's season around by spending more than £150m ($224.17m) in the summer, bringing in the likes of Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Daley Blind and Angel di Maria.

The players have made a massive contribution to the squad over the course of the campaign, which has seen United climb to third in the table, with the possibility of overtaking Arsenal to second should they beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 18 April.

Mourinho, whose first stint at Chelsea began in 2004, made a massive windfall that time around with the help of Roman Abramovich, who gave the Portuguese manager complete liberty to choose his targets.

This led to Chelsea winning the Premier League title twice in consecutive years, ending their 50-year wait without the coveted trophy.

However, with FFP regulations on the line, times have changed and United, with their financial prowess can dictate the market, unlike Chelsea, who are way off United in terms of commercial revenue and have to balance their books by selling players to fund their transfers.

"Yes, it's easier [For United]. It was easier before at Chelsea, but it's more fun like this. More difficult of course. We sold a lot of players, not just Juan," Mourinho said.

Chelsea had to part with David Luiz and Andre Schurrle over the past year but brought in talent by the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa on whom their current title winning campaign is based.

United have myriads of injury problems in the form of Michael Carrick, Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind and Phil Jones but Mourinho refused to concede that it will be any easier for his side to get the better of Van Gaal's men.

A win here for Chelsea will take them 11 points clear of the Red Devils, with clear daylight between the two teams, especially with Chelsea also having a game in hand.